00:00in Path of Exile one of the most common
00:02questions somebody who is learning the
00:03game will ask is I am new to Path of
00:06Exile should I use a guide first or no
00:09and very often they are referring to a
00:10build guide the question will go
00:12something like this my favorite game of
00:13all time is Diablo I play D3 play D4
00:17been longing for a game to scratch the
00:18itch of D2 but seeing the skill tree it
00:21seems overwhelming the skill gems maybe
00:23they don't understand maybe they don't
00:25understand defenses or they hear you can
00:26brick your character so they'll ask
00:29should I use a guy in order to have the
00:30best experience possible the argument
00:33towards using guide would be that your
00:35experience will be easier to understand
00:38it would teach you how at least one
00:40build works so you can always rely on
00:41that build for future Seasons leagues
00:44basically as the game progresses you
00:47will have a comfort pick you'll be able
00:48to actually get all the way through the
00:50campaign and you'll experience a little
00:51bit of the in-game so at least you get
00:53the opportunity to see what the game
00:56itself has to offer otherwise you can
00:59probably Breck your character or at
01:00least get stuck and the counterarguments
01:03to this would be well if I don't want to
01:05use a guide then I can have a more
01:07enjoyable experience of learning the
01:09game innately maybe I like doing Blind
01:11runs maybe the process of it being
01:14difficult will be enjoyable to Me Maybe
01:16I just want to figure it out myself
01:18these are typically the arguments you're
01:19going to see on either side of this one
01:21now this was my original character and I
01:24did not use a build guide to build this
01:26character so the end result of my first
01:28character ended up being that I
01:30basically do no damage I was semi tanky
01:33but not even as tanky as some as my
01:35further builds I do no damage and I
01:38eventually got to a position where I
01:39could not progress my character any
01:41further because I just don't have the
01:43stats and the build to be able to defeat
01:45the bosses I would need to be able to
01:47defeat to be able to continue the
01:49progression of this character so this is
01:51sometimes what people mean when they
01:53refer to you can Breck your character
01:55they mean your character progressed up
01:56to a certain point and it's no longer
01:58strong enough to be able to prog ress
02:00now on this character I was able to
02:02clear through the campaign in some of
02:04the in-game Void Stone bosses meaning
02:06some of the bosses that unlock things
02:08later in the game for you I was not able
02:10to complete all of it so my experience
02:13was only part of what the game has to
02:15offer my first run through and the funny
02:17part about that is my character stopped
02:20really working at the point that the
02:22game really starts to get good so my
02:24first run through this I only really
02:26experienced The Campaign which at some
02:29points people get down to like 5 hours
02:31or less now and I didn't really get to
02:33experience what makes Path of Exile good
02:37another thing that happened was because
02:38I was playing softcore trade a lot of
02:41this gear that I ended up purchasing I
02:44either would overpay or purchase gear
02:46that just basically didn't work with my
02:48build I wasted a lot of the money that I
02:51had saved up throughout my time playing
02:53the game so not only did I have a Mis
02:57optimo experience and Miss portions of
02:59the in game but also the time that I did
03:02have in the game and the progress I did
03:03make I would very often waste by
03:05purchasing equipment that I thought
03:07looked good that literally either didn't
03:09work with my build or had an interaction
03:11that physically made my character worse
03:14you could explain this away as learning
03:18moments that stuck with me and while
03:21that would be true they are also what I
03:22would refer to as quitting moments these
03:24are moments when you realize you have
03:26made a major mistake and you lost 4
03:28hours worth of Grind Time by making a
03:31irrelevant purchase or purchasing
03:33something that the price is way too high
03:35cuz you don't have one of the tools that
03:36we're going to talk about in just a
03:38moment then that might be a frustrating
03:41enough moment you say you know what I
03:42don't have enough hours in a day this
03:44game is too complicated I'm not
03:46interested in continuing to learn this
03:48this feels like a second part-time job I
03:50think I'm just going to go play
03:51something else now one of the arguments
03:54I made to myself for the reason I didn't
03:55want to use like guides in the beginning
03:57of the game and admittedly I had the
03:59chat teaching me literally anyway cuz I
04:01am a live streamer I will be live today
04:03as a matter of fact with Path of Exile
04:05but one of the arguments that I was
04:06making to myself is I wanted to have the
04:09enjoyability of learning Path of Exile I
04:12thought that the learning process itself
04:14would be fun but what I failed to
04:16realize is even if I had used the guide
04:19from the beginning of playing Path of
04:21Exile that one there's so much impath of
04:24Exile that I could use a guide and still
04:26not scratch the surface and still have
04:28plenty of things to use so if I had that
04:31basic build in the beginning to lean
04:33back on a crutch of a build that I could
04:36continually come back to the least
04:37progress through the game that I would
04:39be able to go and then learn the other
04:41ingame or the league mechanics or what
04:44have you about the game there's plenty
04:45of other things outside of that but two
04:48there's also other game modes so once
04:50you understand the basics of Path of
04:52Exile then you could say okay well now I
04:54want to try it on Hardcore if you're
04:56brave enough or maybe you want to be
04:58able to still die but you want to
05:00collect the items yourself so you do
05:02like a solo self found mode so there are
05:05variants based upon in the game that
05:08will still allow you new teaching
05:10moments in each of those hardcore we
05:12teach you defenses Sol cell found we
05:14teach you acquisition methods for items
05:16so if one of your concerns is well DM I
05:19want to learn path of exam myself
05:20because I find challenges inspiring and
05:24informative those still exist in the
05:26game even if you do use a build guide
05:29you're first time going through one of
05:31the jokes you'll hear in Path of Exile
05:34once you get through the campaign and
05:36get to your hideout and eventually begin
05:38like the mapping ingame T of pro
05:41progression is that congratulations you
05:44have completed your tutorial now you can
05:47actually play the game and they're right
05:50because going through the campaign for
05:51the first time is a fun experience you
05:53get to see what the game has to offer
05:55but that's just it you get to see what
05:57the game has to offer and then the game
05:59offers it to you once you sort of get
06:01through the campaign you'll hear the
06:03same joke once you get through all 16
06:05tiers of maps congratulations you have
06:07unlocked the tutorial now you can see
06:10what the game has to offer with its
06:11ingame and that is also correct you have
06:14gone through the tutorial and gone
06:16through enough of it to be able to see
06:18what you can have offered to you from
06:19the ingame too that's sort of the beauty
06:22of Path of Exile is it's a mini layered
06:24onion that that joke is going to
06:26continue to happen and is going to
06:28continue to ring through something else
06:31to keep in mind is this learning
06:32philosophy of I want to do the build
06:35myself and figure out my own character
06:37can apply at any time for instance I Am
06:39800 hours into the game we are just days
06:42away at this point in starting the new
06:45league which is basically the new season
06:47for Path of Exile and after 800 hours
06:49I'm into position because of how many
06:51changes they've done that everything
06:53that I knew about the builds that I had
06:55been using had been fundamentally
06:57changed meaning I'm right back at the
07:00chop you know chopping block of I don't
07:02know what build to use I'm right back in
07:05the position of am I going to use a
07:06build guide or am I going to try to
07:08figure my something out here so that
07:11ability is not going to be lost forever
07:14if you decide to use a build guide for
07:15your first time to be fair one thing
07:18that could happen when using the build
07:20and I've tried a bunch of characters
07:22here I have followed the build precisely
07:25twice now in the game and one thing that
07:27did happen to me when I was doing a
07:29minion style build was that I felt like
07:33I was actually just really really strong
07:36and I was comparing this against the
07:37basic build I had things basically felt
07:39too easy CU I was using this minion
07:41build where I was walking through and
07:42just one shotting everything and it I
07:45didn't really feel much of a challenge
07:47so that is something that you could feel
07:49if you feel like you picked a super meta
07:51build but the reality is if you're doing
07:55it for your first time you're having to
07:57understand the mechanics of the game
07:58you're going to have to understand how
08:00skill gems work how ascendancies work
08:02how the bosses work resistances defenses
08:05offenses you know more versus increase
08:07damage there's so many things to
08:09actually learn about the game that the
08:12reason people use builds in order to
08:14make the actual monsters and fighting of
08:16the game easier is to allow you to focus
08:18on how those other things work so that
08:21if you do wish to do your own build
08:23let's say on your second character or
08:25something like that you at least know
08:27how a scale works so that you can have
08:30the ability to process enough of that
08:32information to at least have a fair shot
08:34at it Path of Exile has one major flaw
08:37which it is not new player friendly it
08:41is very overly complicated that is both
08:43a double-edged sort of why people like
08:45it but also why some people cannot get
08:48into the game so for for myself for
08:51somebody who has both tried playing the
08:53game without a guide though admittedly I
08:55had a chat even teaching me along the
08:57way and somebody who has later looked
08:59into things like bone shatter to learn
09:01builds that seem pretty good and tried
09:03both of those I do recommend and it's
09:07current iteration I do recommend trying
09:10to use a build guide for your first
09:12playthrough or else you run the risk of
09:14hating the game and not seeing the
09:17potential the game has to offer one
09:20other point you're going to hear from
09:22veteran players uh when it goes to
09:24recommending new players is they're
09:25going to tell you to download a bunch of
09:27programs you're probably going to hear
09:28about awakened Poe trade which is a
09:30program that allows you to see values of
09:32items you're probably going to hear
09:33about path of building which is a
09:36basically a program that mimics the
09:38in-game skill tree and skills an item so
09:41you can build out characters and
09:43basically a spreadsheet to see what all
09:45of the data of your character would be
09:47and make changes to your character in
09:48the spreadsheet before you do them in
09:50game in order to not waste you know
09:52efficiency now I myself do not like
09:56these programs I think they are
09:58extremely annoying that Path of Exile
10:00borderline requires these I don't think
10:04you have to use them for your first
10:07experience in the campaign if you
10:09continue to play the game after that I
10:11would say look into awaken Poe trade and
10:13what it would do for you on an economy
10:15side especially if you are going to use
10:17a trade League system you probably want
10:20to look into awaken Poe as soon as
10:23possible then in that scenario otherwise
10:26in my personal opinion path of building
10:28is not required for your first
10:30playthrough if you're following a build
10:32guide but there is one third-party
10:35system I would recommend for your first
10:37playthrough right from the beginning
10:39that is going to be an either item
10:42filter system you can set different
10:45prerequisites for an item filter and
10:47effectively what this does is make it
10:50where when items drop they don't spam
10:53the floor so much you can't even see the
10:55ground Path of Exile drops you a ton of
10:57Loot and is assuming that you going to
10:59use a filter to filter only down to the
11:02stuff you want now you might say well I
11:04don't want to figure out a filter you
11:05are lucky you do not have to there are
11:08websites that already do this for you so
11:11all you have to do is sign into Poe pick
11:14if you want to do a never sync softcore
11:16hardcore stable ruthless just pick
11:18softcore for your first playthrough put
11:20it on semi-strict or regular this will
11:23filter out basically complete garbage
11:25that you're not going to use and make it
11:27easy enough to understand what is
11:28actually happen happening in the game
11:30this is filter blade I highly recommend
11:33filter blade for this purposes it is
11:35easy to understand syns into the game so
11:38all you have to do is sign in there uh
11:41click on whatever filter you want to use
11:42it will immediately show up in your item
11:44filters you can just click on it to swap
11:46your item filter save it and you're done
11:49it's pretty much that easy so this takes
11:51no actual knowledge of the game just
11:54knowledge of how to click on buttons on
11:56the internet and to to be able to
11:57actually use and it will
11:59massively increase your experience of
12:02your first and further playthroughs this
12:05is something that is basically mandatory
12:07if you do continue to play the game or
12:09else the game is going to completely
12:11spam your screen with just too many
12:12items they do imagine that players are
12:15going to use this when they build out
12:16this game this is not like an optional
12:18third party thing that oh maybe someone
12:20will use awaken pee Traer path of
12:21building they pretty much expect you to
12:24use an item filter okay so at this point
12:26you might be convinced to use a build
12:28guide and you're going to ask all right
12:29well how do I actually find these build
12:31guides I myself being affiliated with
12:33Max row I'm going to recommend you
12:35towards Max row you can go to Max R.G
12:39browse games click on Path of Exile and
12:41then pick through the builds that are
12:42available here when you click on the
12:44build it's just going to show you uh one
12:47if it's updated to the current league so
12:49look at which patch it is you can see
12:50all of the different League starters a
12:52league starter is basically a beginner
12:54uh League character right the start of a
12:57new league so you're going to use a
12:58league starter for your first time it's
12:59something that's very easy to follow and
13:01it's going to show you everything from
13:03what skill gems items Etc to use you do
13:06not only have to use max row there are
13:09plenty of other websites you can use for
13:12instance my friend gazy TV is an Icy
13:14Veins person you could check them out
13:16there's even YouTube guides zizin for
13:19instance has a whole breakdown of
13:22multiple guides with tons of information
13:24on it so there are plenty of creators
13:26out there creating guides for you this
13:28should be the easy part hard to get to
13:29and understand how a guide works so
13:32that's my argument for it I was pretty
13:34anti I don't want to use a guide in the
13:35beginning I don't want to use third
13:37party software in the beginning and I
13:39still hate the third party software is
13:41as far as I can tell it's annoying that
13:43it's something that's pretty much
13:44required once you super get into the
13:46game but for your first playthrough
13:48recommend a guide use a basic League
13:50starter these are my arguments as to why
13:52and do not feel like if you do that then
13:54you're losing out on potential
13:56experience of learning in the game
13:57because in Path of Exile there literally
14:00always something to learn
